RIYADH, 23 June — Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare and chief of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, has said that the Kingdom together with some Islamic countries has set up a sports medicine and anti-doping committee to check the use of drugs, banned substances and masking products.
“This new panel for medicine and anti-doping has been established to protect players and athletes especially in Islamic countries from the hazards of drugs,” said Prince Sultan in a comprehensive interview published in the latest issue of the Olympic, the official quarterly journal of SAOC. The move will greatly help to educate sportsmen of this region about doping and sports medicine.
The role of the Kingdom has always been applauded by local and international sports bodies when its comes to imposing tighter restrictions on banned substances. Saudi sports squads have no problems in this regard. Saudi Arabia has had a qualified team of physicians, who closely monitor the health and the diet of its athletes and players, the prince said. Saudi Arabia is an important member of the Arab Sports Federation, which had adopted Arab Anti-Doping Charter.
On the future programs for doping control to be launched in the Islamic countries by the new anti-doping agency, Prince Sultan said that the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF) in cooperation with this new anti-dping agency had decided to organize a three-phase intensive sports medicine and anti-doping course for a host of Arabic, English and French speaking countries.
This exercise will help to impose self-restraint on players and athletes taking part in regional and international sports events. It is important to note here in this context that a total of 3600 drug tests were carried out during Sydney Olympic games. The number of tests in Sydney was nearly doubled compared to Atlanta games four years ago mainly with an aim to ensure cooperation among various contries to control drug abuse.
Asked about the future participation in Olympic games, Prince Sultan said that Saudi Arabia for the first time took part in Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and since then it participated in all Olympic games with the exception of Moscow games in 1980. “As for the future, we should focus on individual sports such as equestrian, athletics, taekwondo and weightlifting in addition to other sports such as football, handball and volleyball”, he said.
“On the long run, we have no other alternative but to work out a comprehensive plan to detect talented athletes, take care of them and make the best use of sports facilities and youth foundations of the country”, said the prince, while referring to the benefits of the cooperation agreement signed by the Arab Sports Federation and the European Olympic Committee last year.
